Thallon is a town and a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

in the

Shire of Balonne The Shire of Balonne is a local government area in South West Queensland, Australia, over from the state capital, Brisbane. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1879. It is headquartered in its main town, S ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. In the , Thallon had a population of 257 people. There is a second town within the locality,

Nindigully Nindigully is a rural town within the locality of Thallon in the Shire of Balonne, Queensland, Australia. Geography Nindigully is north of the town of Thallon, the main town in the locality. The Moonie River flows south to north passing th ...

Geography

StateLibQld 2 129078 Motor train at Thallon station on its way to Warwick in December 1930

Thallon is in

South West Queensland South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa district and parts of the Channel Countr ...

, west of the state capital,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. The town is situated in roughly towards the east of the locality. The

Moonie River The Moonie River (Mooni River) is a river in Shire of Balonne, Queensland and Walgett Shire, New South Wales, both in Australia. It is a perennial river of the Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin. Name The river was named '' ...

flows from south to north through the locality and just to the west of the town. The Carnarvon Highway passes from north to south through the locality and through the town (as Hill Street) connecting the town to

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

to the north and

Mungindi Mungindi is a town and locality on the border of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, Australia. The town is within Moree Plains Shire in New South Wales. Within Queensland, the locality is split between the Shire of Balonne (the western part) ...

on the border with New South Wales. The South-Western railway line passes through the locality from east to west and the town is served for freight rail by the Thallon railway station. Thallon is a major wheat and woolgrowing area.

History

StateLibQld 2 145859 Thallon State School group, 1923

Gamilaraay The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

(Gamilaroi, Kamilaroi, Comilroy) is a language from South-West Queensland and North-West New South Wales. The Gamilaraay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Balonne Shire Council, including the towns of

Dirranbandi Dirranbandi is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Balonne, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the border of Queensland with New South Wales. In the , Dirranbandi had a population of 640 people. Geography Dirranbandi is on the ...

, Thallon, Talwood and Bungunya as well as the border towns of

and Boomi extending to Moree, Tamworth and

Coonabarabran Coonabarabran is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 2,537, Material was copied from this s ...

in NSW. Explorer Thomas Mitchell was the first European in the Thallon district and his initials can still be found on a

bloodwood Bloodwood is a common name for several unrelated trees, including: * '' Baloghia inophylla'' (Brush or Scrub bloodwood), '' Baloghia marmorata'' (Marbled bloodwood), '' Baloghia parviflora'' (Small-flowered bloodwood), all found in Australia * ' ...

tree near the

. In 1911, the area was set aside for closer settlement and were

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

d as a town reserve. The town's name comes from its railway station, which in turn was named on 17 January 1911 by the

Queensland Railways Department Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...

after

James Forsyth Thallon James Forsyth Thallon (21 November 1847 – 24 March 1911) was the ninth Commissioner of Queensland Railways, Australia from 1902 to his death in 1911. Early life James Forsyth Thallon was born at Markinch, Fifeshire, Scotland on 21 November ...

(1847-1911) who was the Queensland Commissioner for Railways from 1900 to 1911. With the coming of the railway, the town developed and shops and a hotel were established. Thallon State School opened on 24 July 1911. Myrtlemount Provisional School, Warrie Provisional School and Hollymount Provisional School (all named after local pastoral stations) opened on 29 September 1919 as a group of part-time schools (sharing a teacher between them). All three schools closed in 1922 due to low student numbers. At the , Thallon and the surrounding area had a population of 382.

Heritage listings

Thallon has the following heritage-listed sites: * by the Moonie River: Bullamon Homestead

Facilities

Thallon has a post office, hotel, community hall, showground, park and sportsground. Balonne Shire Council operates a library in William Street. ThallonCWARooms

The Thallon-Daymar branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

has its rooms at 47 William Street. Daymar is a neighbouring town, east of Thallon.

Education

Thallon State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 15 Henry Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 36 students with 4 teachers (3 full-time equivalent) and 7 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). There is no secondary school in Thallon; the nearest is in neighbouring

William the Wombat

In 2015, the town of Thallon decided to build a large statue of a

northern hairy-nosed wombat The northern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus krefftii'') or yaminon is one of three extant species of Australian marsupials known as wombats. It is one of the rarest land mammals in the world and is critically endangered. Its historical rang ...

as one of

Australia's Big Things The big things of Australia are large structures, some of which are novelty architecture and some are sculptures. There are estimated to be over 230 such objects around the country. There are big things in every state and territory in contin ...

to attract tourists and to highlight the critically endangered status of the species which had once inhabited the Thallon area but is now extinct in that area. The statue is and was built by David Joffe at Natureworks in

. It arrived in Thallon in October 2017 and is on display in the park. There is a small population of the wombats at the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge, located between

and

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

, established in 2009.

Gallery

File:AU-Qld-Thallon-town sign north-2021.jpg, Northern entrance to the town (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Pine Street-2021.jpg, Pine Street (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-state school-2021.jpg, Thallon State School, Henry Street (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-state school oval-2021.jpg, Thallon State School oval, Henry Street (2021). File:ThallonFrancisHotel.JPG, Francis Hotel, Pine Street (2008). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Anglican church-2021.jpg, Anglican church (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-town water tower-2021.jpg, Town water tower (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-fire station-2021.jpg, Fire station (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-police station-2021.jpg, Police station (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-cemetery-2021.jpg, Town cemetery (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-silo murals-2021.jpg, Painted murals on grain silos (2021). File:Thallon silo art - The Watering Hole, 2021, 03.jpg, Painted murals on grain silos (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-war memorial-2021.jpg, War memorial (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Moonie River in flood downstream-2021.jpg, Moonie River in flood downstream (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Noondoo-Thallon Road-2021.jpg, Noondoo-Thallon Road (2021).

References

External links

Town map of Thallon, 1974
{{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Balonne Localities in Queensland